CHAPTER SEVEN:

TOUR AROUND JACKSON

JACKSON, WYOMING WAS full of living people. No infected could be seen around the snowy area. Children ran around outside, building snowmen, throwing snowballs at each other and even the adults walking by, quickly running away when the adults glares turned to them.

Y/n thought the place was very nice. She couldn't stop staring at everything around her. Her, Joel and Ellie were practically inhaling their food. The group of three were sitting in a large dining hall, people walking by and letting their gazes linger on them.

Tommy held a little smile as he glanced between the three. He still couldn't believe his brother was alive. He felt his wife's knee brush against his. Maria Miller kept continuously glancing towards her husband. She had heard so much about him.

"There's more if you need it." She speaks up, noticing how they were almost done with their plates.

"Thank you, ma'am." Joel says. "It's been a while since we've had a proper meal."

"Actually, I don't think I've ever had a proper meal. This is fucking amazing." Ellie breathes out before taking another big bite of the food on her fork.

Joel looks at the girl, eyes wide. "Sorry. Ellie," the girl looks at him, "let's mind our manners." Tommy smiles slightly.

Y/n lifts her head to make eye contact with the married couple. "It's very good. Thank you." Both smile and nod at her.

Taking another bite, Ellie lifted her head to look around the dining hall, her eyes stopping on a pair of eyes watching her and Y/n. "What?" She yells out. The others follow her gaze to see a boy with dark hair around her and Y/n's age quickly looking and walking away.

Y/n let her eyes linger on the boy with tan skin and dark hair. As he moves to leave the building, he glances over his shoulder again, his dark eyes making eye contact with her e/c ones. She felt butterflies in her stomach as he leaves the building.

Joel nudges nudges. "What's wrong with you?"

"What about his manners?" Ellie asks in annoyance.

"He was just curious." Maria tells her. "Kids around here don't usually look or talk like you two."

"Right." The young girl nods. "Well, maybe I'll teach them." Both Tommy and Maria raise their brows at this. "And I want my gun back."

"They also aren't armed." Maria reasons.

"You know what? Uh... I think maybe y'all got a little off on the wrong foot." Tommy intervenes, shifting in his chair awkwardly.

"She was gonna have her guys kill us." Ellie reminds him, anger in her tone.

"Well, we gotta be real careful about who we let in this place. But it's all bark. We're just tryna scare off those who might wanna try us is all." The younger Miller brother informs.

"Well, you got a couple of ninety year olds shitting themselves out there." Ellie murmurs.

"Ellie." Joel scolds.

"They say that you leave dead bodies around?" She continues, ignoring the two of them.

"Those are the people who tried us." Maria replies.

"A bad reputation doesn't mean you're bad." Tommy states.

"Not always, at least." His wife adds.

Joel found himself staring at her, silently wondering to himself as to why she was still here. For all he knew, she was a stranger. "Ma'am," he shifts, "we're grateful for your hospitality and all. But it'd be nice to have a moment here, maybe just for family." He looks at his brother.

"Well, um..." Tommy sits up and holds out his hand. Maria places her left hand in his, revealing the ring on her finger. "Maria is family, actually."

With a moment of silence passing through them, Y/n found herself staring at her hands, seeing the shine of their fingers on their ring fingers. Her eyes widen in realization, eyes snapping up to look at the couple's face. She felt herself smile a bit.

"Oh, shit!" Ellie realizes. "Congrats." Tommy gives her an awkward smile. The girl looks at the other couple, seeing Y/n still softly smiling while Joel stared at their hands. "Joel, say congrats."

Glancing between his brother and his wife, it takes Joel a couple seconds, "Congrats." An awkward silence passes through the group of five.

Tommy puts a hopeful smile on his lips. "How about a tour?"

Immediately, the girls agreed to his suggestion and soon enough, they were standing up and grabbing their coats that was near the door. As she trailed behind Maria and Tommy, Y/n glances over her shoulder to see Joel was moving slow. But eventually, they were walking outside.

"We settled here about seven years ago. Just a handful of us back then. That section was already a gated community, so we built the rest of the wall out from there. Stopped most of the raiding parties, but we still find pockets of them." Maria explains as they walk through groups of people.

"And you said infected?" Joel questions.

Tommy nods. "Yeah, but usually smaller colonies, wandered off from the cities. All this open country out here... it's a turkey shoot. I still got my seven hundred, but I found a variable power scope. Sub-MOA. Can headshot those fuckers from a half mile out."

"Can you teach me how?" Ellie asks.

"Me too?" Y/n adds in a hopeful tone.

"No, he can't." Joel quickly denies. "How do you keep this place quiet?"

"Carefully." Maria replies. "Being in the middle of nowhere helps. Not advertising what we have, staying off the radio. House of worship, multifaith. School. Laundry. Old bank works as the jail," she points at each of the buildings, "not that we've needed it."

Joel stares up at the power lines. "And you draw power from the dam?"

Maria nods. "Got that working a couple years ago." They stop beside the large wooden pole. "After that, sewage, plumbing, water heaters, lights."

"This place actually fucking works." Ellie mumbles.

The group of five continue moving throughout the town. Y/n glances around, making eye contact with many people as she moves by them. As they walk towards where the animals are kept, Ellie and Y/n look back at Joel and make a "baa" noise at the sight of sheep.

"So are you, like, in charge?" Y/n questions, glancing towards Maria.

"No one person's in charge." Maria states. "I'm on the council. Democratically elected, serving three hundred people, including children. Everyone pitches in. We rotate patrols, food prep, repairs, hunting, harvesting."

"Everything you see in our town... greenhouses, livestock, all shared. Collective ownership." Tommy tells them.

"So, uh, communism." Joel concludes.

Tommy shakes his head. "Nah, it ain't like that."

"It is that. Literally. This is a commune. We're communists." Maria insists.

They got closer to the stables when Y/n and Ellie noticed a foal inside the stables with it's mother. Both girls rushed over, hearing Maria tell them about the baby horse as they both pet the young animal. Ellie even nudged her nose against the foal's.

"Well, I'm sure they'd like a shower, some new clothes." Maria turns to her husband, saying, "We can put them in the empty house across the street from us."

"Yeah." Tommy agrees, eyes meeting his brother's. "It's a decent place. Pretty much untouched since 03, but it's got the heat going in it. Could do worse."

"Oh, trust me, we have been." Ellie comments.

"We've been doing fine." Joel argues.

A silence passes them as Joel and the preteens stare at each other before Maria speaks up, "Well, I'll take Y/n and Ellie over there if you two wanna catch up?" Both brothers were quick to agree.

As Joel began walking away, trailing behind his brother, he looks over his shoulder when both girls called out his name. He was quick to assure them that they'd be fine before walking off with Tommy. Y/n and Ellie nervously grab each other's hands as they follow Maria.

* * *

THE WARM SHOWER felt amazing against her skin. After being outside in the winter air for so long, Y/n thought she'd never be able to shower again. She can't even remember the last time she felt clean. She can't remember wearing new clothes.

Hair damp and body dry, now wearing a pair of clothes Maria had left for her on the bed, the Burrell girl found herself leaving the house after Ellie had gone into the shower. The snow crunched under her feet as she moved across the street to Tommy and Maria's house.

Her hand shook as she knocked on the door. Maria's voice called from inside, telling her to come in. Hesitantly, the girl opens the door and steps inside. "Maria?" She calls out.

"I'm in here." The woman answers from the other room. Y/n took slow steps, lingering at the doorway of the living room. Maria looks up and smiles at her. "You can come in, sweetheart. You're all clean now?"

"Yeah." Y/n nods, moving further inside the room. "It's weird. I forgot what warm water felt like."

The Miller woman chuckles. "Believe me, it takes some getting used to again." Her eyes stare at the girl, noticing she looked hesitant to move. "Sit, rest your feet."

Almost cautiously, the fourteen year old takes slow steps towards the couch Maria was standing near. Slowly, she sits down and leans back. A content sigh escapes past her lips. She never felt this comfy before.

"The clothes fit good?" Maria asks, receiving a nod. "Good. Hope the shower wasn't too overwhelming."

Y/n shrugs. "It was nice. Just... felt wrong to enjoy it."

The woman furrows her brows. "Why would it feel wrong?"

The Burrell girl avoids eye contact as she says, "Because Sam would've liked it. Henry would've, too."

"Who's Sam and Henry?" Maria questions.

"My..." Her bottom lip trembles. Y/n moves her head back, eyes staring at the ceiling. "My brothers."

Maria's eyes soften in seconds, a realization coming across her. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Y/n shakes her head. "I still hear it." She didn't know why she was saying this. Maybe she just needed to get it out. Maybe she just... needed to talk about it. "The gunshots. I thought if I... you know, followed them... it would stop. But Joel stopped me."

The woman sits down on the couch, keeping a distance but gently resting a hand on the girl's knee. "I've lost people, too. Not the same way, but... enough to understand that silence doesn't always come after. Sometimes, it gets louder."

"It feels like I'm not supposed to be here." Y/n whispers to herself.

"But you are, and that means something. You survived. Not because you ran or hid, but because someone cared enough to stop you. Because you were strong enough to let them. Your brothers would want you to keep surviving." Maria tells her.

The two females let a silence pass over them. Maria's eyes were soft as they stared into Y/n's teary ones. The woman's thumb caressed the girl's knee, still keeping her distance. When Y/n stood up and took a couple steps away, Maria let her hand fall.

"Why do you even care?" Y/n grunts out, wiping her tears. "Why am I even telling you this? You don't even know me."

"Because I was you. A long time ago. Before Jackson. I lost people, too. And for a long time," Maria shakes her head, "I thought that caring was the problem. That the more you cared, the more you hurt. But the thing no one tells you is it's also the only way you heal. Little by little. Day by day. Letting people care again. Letting yourself care again."

Y/n sniffles. "I'm scared if I care again... they'll die, too."

"That fear never fully goes away." Maria nods in understanding. "But in a place like this, it starts to fade. You find people who can carry some of that weight with you. You're not alone, Y/n. Not here."

The teenager didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Her teary eyes stared at the older woman, quickly wiping her eyes and the couple tears that fell down her cheeks. She slowly nodded in response to the woman's words.

Maria sighs, standing up. "I'm gonna step out for a minute. Get you and Ellie some new coats. You gonna be okay?"

Y/n shrugs, nodding. "Yeah. I think so." Sniffling, she wipes her nose.

And with a soft smile, Maria moves towards the back door and leaves Y/n inside the house in a silence. Letting out a sigh, the fourteen year old plops back down on the couch. For a couple minutes, she sat in silence, eyes staring up at the words written on the chalkboard.

Kevin                               Sarah
4/3/00 - 9/29/03        7/20/89 - 9/27/03

But soon enough, the front door was opening and Ellie's voice called out. Y/n was quick to yell out, telling her new friend that she was in the living room. Ellie's eyes brightened at the sight of Y/n as she moved towards her, hair damp and now wearing new clothes.

The Williams girl's eyes stopped on the chalkboard Y/n had been staring at. Curiously, she moves closer to it, head tilting to the side. The exchanged glance the girls make showed that they were both wondering the same thing. Who was Kevin and Sarah?

The creaking door caught their attention. Both girls look over to see Maria walking back in, now holding two new coats. "Just traded for these." Maria tells them, holding up the coats. "Go ahead, try them on."

Both girls grab the coats from the woman, pushing their arms through the holes and shrugging them on over their shoulders. "It's, uh, super fucking purple." Ellie comments to the coat Maria gave her.

"Eggplant." Maria comments in response, straightening Y/n's. "It fits?" Both nod. "Shoes aren't too big?"

"Uh, no." Ellie glances down at her feet. "Where's my other stuff?"

"Rage pile. Did you get the thing I left you both?" Maria asks.

Ellie nods. "Yeah. Weirdest gift ever."

"But useful." The woman reasons as her eyes stare at their hair. "Who's been cutting your guys hair?"

Ellie narrows her eyes, brows furrowed. "Uh, world-class salons." Y/n rolled her eyes, yet smiled at the sarcasm in her friend's voice.

Maria chuckles. "Let me get my scissors." Immediately, both girls were protesting. "Trim. That's all. Just the ends, I promise." Without another word, she was walking out of the room to grab her scissors.

Taking off their coats, the girls moved to the dining room as Maria set up a chair. Ellie went first. Neither of them said much as Maria trimmed the ends of Ellie's hair. It didn't take long until Y/n and Ellie switched and now Y/n had a towel over her shoulders.

"So, was this your job back then or something?" Y/n questions.

Maria shakes her head. "No, I was an Assistant District Attorney out of Omaha, Nebraska. I put bad guys in jail. I always liked doing hair, though. Maybe it was a mom thing. You guys were looking at the little memorial Tommy made?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm sorry about your kids." Ellie says.

"Yeah, really sorry." Y/n adds.

"It's okay. And kid. Just Kevin." The woman corrects them. "Sarah was Joel's daughter." This sudden news had the girls looking at each other. "Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's okay." Y/n assures. "I guess that explains him a little."

Maria stops for a moment. "Look, I'm not gonna ask you two what you're doing with him."

"Good." Ellie bluntly mutters.

"But there are clearly things you two don't know about Joel." Maria continues.

Ellie raises a brow. "Oh, like how he used to kill people? We know about that."

"So then you understand my concern." Maria states.

"He doesn't do that anymore." Ellie tells her.

"He stopped killing people?" The Miller woman asks.

Y/n lets out a breath. "Innocent ones."

"And Tommy did it, too." Ellie quickly reminds. "Are you worried about him?"

This makes the woman stop. She tuts before replying, "Tommy was following Joel. The way you two are now."

"Well, maybe we're smarter than Tommy. No offense." The infected girl comments.

"You are definitely smart. Would've made a hell of a lawyer." Maria places the scissors down, leaning against the counter to look at both of them. "There's a whole lot you two aren't telling me. Good. Therein lies the point. Be careful who you put your faith in. The only people who can betray us are the ones we trust. You both understand?"

Not replying with words, both teenagers nod with hums. Their brows were furrowed as they thought deeply about what she had just said to them. When she takes the towel off Y/n's shoulders, the girl stands up as Maria tells them to grab their coats.

"Where are we going?" Y/n questions.

The woman tosses the towel on the counter. "The movies."

She doesn't wait for them to reply as she moves out of the room. Ellie sighs, putting her hair up into her usual ponytail while Y/n moves towards their coats. Soon enough, the girls followed Maria out of the house and further into town.

The sun had fully set and the two found themselves sitting side by side in the public movie theatre in the town. They were surrounded by other kids. Y/n could hardly pay attention to the movie. She kept glancing around when she noticed Tommy and Maria talking on the sidelines.

Nudging Ellie, the Williams girl follows Y/n's gaze. The girls watch as Tommy eventually leaves his wife's side and walks out of the theatre. Sharing a glance, they both get up to their feet and move to grab their coats.

Walking outside side by side, the town was empty. Almost everyone was either inside their homes or at the movies. And so, after hearing his words through the door, they found themselves moving back to the house Maria had taken them to.

Meanwhile, Joel steps outside of the small building he had been sitting in for the past couple of hours. He listens to his brother's instructions on where the house was before they go their separate ways. Tommy goes to the movies, Joel goes to the house.

When the man in his fifties reaches the home, he saw all the lights inside were off except for one. The window on the second floor at the front caught his attention immediately. His steps were slow as he moved inside, shrugging his coat off.

Seeing two other coats, he could only think that it was the two girls. The floors creaked underneath him as he moved upstairs. He stopped outside a bedroom door, deep voice calling out the girls names before he slowly pushed the door open.

Stepping inside the pink bedroom that clearly hadn't been touched since outbreak day, Joel felt himself sigh in relief at the sight of the girls inside the room. Ellie was sitting by the window, reading an old diary while Y/n looked at all things hung up on the wall.

"Is this really all they had to worry about?" Ellie wonders out loud. "Boys. Movies. Deciding which shirt goes with which skirt. It's bizarre."

"Listen, um--" Joel begins.

"Why are you here?" Y/n interrupts.

"I came here to talk to you." Joel tells him. "To talk to both of you."

Ellie shakes her head. "No, why are you still here? If you are gonna ditch me, ditch me."

Joel clenches his jaw. "What exactly did you guys hear?"

"'I have to leave them. You have to take Ellie'." The Williams girl repeats what she heard earlier.

"You know, she stood up for you today because we thought--" Y/n stops herself abruptly.

"I made this decision for your own good." The girls scoffs at Joel's words. "You'll be way better off with Tommy. He knows the area better than I do--"

"Do you give a shit about us or not?" Ellie loudly exclaims, shooting to her feet and interrupting him.

"Of course, I do." Joel firmly replies.

"Then what are you so afraid of?" Y/n questions. All she got was silence. "We're not her, you know?" Both of their faces drop at this. "Maria told us about Sarah and--"

"Don't." Joel found himself cutting the girl off, holding back the tears. "Don't say another word." His eyes harshly glare at them.

Y/n steps closer. "I-I'm sorry about your daughter, Joel. But we have lost people, too."

"You have no idea what loss is." Joel grunts out.

"Everybody I have cared for has either died or left me. Everybody, fucking except for you two!" Ellie cries, shoving the man back. "So don't tell us that we'd be safer with somebody else because the truth is we would just be more scared."

A silence overcomes the group of three. "You're right." Joel eventually grumbles. "You're not my daughters. And I sure as hell ain't your dad. Now, come dawn... we're going our separate ways."

Not wanting to be there any longer, Joel spins around and storms out of the room, slamming the bedroom door shut behind him, leaving Ellie and Y/n to stare at the spot he had been in with tears in their eyes.